Steering mechanism



C. H. BLOMSTROM.

STEERING MECHANISM. APPLICATION FILED AUG.19.19I9.

I t Eluvvzuloz attuned,

Patented Sept. 14, 1920.

' nism as above indicated in which is -pro-.

lock the elements operated am go STATES CARL H. iznoivisraoiu; or DETROIT, MIonieAN.

STEERING MECHANISM.

Application filed August 19, 1919. Serial Nb. 318,480.

To all whom it may concern.-

Be it known that I, CARL H. BLoMsTRoM,

residing at Detroit, in the county of Wayne and State of Michigan, have invented certain new and useful Improvements in Steering Mechanism, of which the following'is a specification. Y

My invention relates to an improvedar rangement of compound epicycle {train of gears which is particularly adapted to be. used in connection with the steering mechanism of self-propelled vehicles, presses, v lifting jacks, hoisting, and analogous devices in which it may be desired to automatically upon in any of its adjusted positions. 1

The objects of my invention are,

First, toconstruct a mechanism of the characteristics referred to in which any. de

sired ratio between the several coeperating gears can be employed, provided for orsubstituted and hence anyratioof power be de termined upon for I operating the steering mechanism or parts connected thereto.

Third, to construct and arrange a mechavided a simple and inexpensive power trans" mission device capable of automatically and irreversibly locking itself inany of its adjusted positions, andsaid adjustments being adapted to be easily and quickly effected withja minimum of power.

Fourth, to construct an arrangement of parts which are dust proofand-capable of being easily and readily applied to or substitutedfor existing forms of steering mechanism without mu'ch expense or disturbing the standard or adopted arrangement of steering rods or connections employed by the several well known automobile manufacinvention will appearifromthe detailedde turers. 1 I V Fifth, other objects and advantages of the specification of lletterslatentt 'P aatnted Sept of operation to be hereinafter-given. 1

.' My invention consists of structural char-f acterlstlcs and relative arrangements of ele-' scription of the several parts and their mode ments which will be hereinafter mercifully" given and particularly pointed-out'in the ap pended'claims. v w In'the drawings in which similar reference characters indicate the same parts in theoseveral figures, i 1

' Figure 1 isavertical section 'of'thef preferred form of my invention as applied to and arranged in cooperative engagement with a steering hand wheel and shaft'of an automobile" and taken on line II of'FigJ2.

' F ig. 2 is a'section'taken on line llell-of Fig. 1.

' Fig. 4 -s a side ele'vation of one of. the

Fig. 3 is a sectiontaken on line HI III compound planetary pinions detached from the mechanism.-

Referring to the steering-shaft which has PIOViClQd' fihdlJS drawings, is alsolid shaft forming the usual; and well known lower end'the common form of'arm 1 1, which is engaged through aballand socket joint 12 with one ,end of the u' sualconnecting rod havin its other connected with'rthe' steering-knuckles, not shown, 1 and forming no part of the present invention.

is formed a socket13, adapted to receive and form a bearing for the reduced end'lt of a stub-shaft 15 and o n the upper end. .of said r In the upper and of-said steeriiig-shaftld stub-shaft 15 is secured the hub 16 of the steering wheel 17 byany suitable key 18, as shown. .19 is an'nt engaging the reducejd'and threaded upper end 20' of the stub-shaft: '15

wheel 17 thereon and "atthe same time pro-f vide a smooth finish t'o'said shaft 15.

A hollowupright 'or 'tube 21, secured in any suitable manner -(notshown) at its for the purposebf securing the steering lowerend to the floor or frame of theauto mobile body, forms the stationary steering post, said tube or hollow post being eX- panded or enlarged at its upper end 22 and.

provided with threads 23 on its'outei'- si'cle and an internal gear 24.011 its inner side, for v purposes to be presently described, said gear Qbeingmade in a separate piece and suitably keyed or fixed to t-he inner side-of the upper end 22 of said post or tube 21hr made integral therewith as shown. seas-ed to the upper end 22 at the pcstor'tniej 21' 1 by means of the threads 23 is an extension forming a circular fixed casing 25 having a lower inner shoulder 26'and an upper externally threaded end 27, saidcasing 25.

forming not only a partof a dust-proof housing but at the same time a firm and key 29 or otherwise, said fiange 28 having ing arm or disk 31 which "disk is rotate-lily supported orcarri id on the shoulder 26 and loosely fitted within the fixed casing as clearly shown in Fig. 1 and said arm or disk -rigid-support and simple bearing forthe' rotary and movable elements of the lnvenits outer-or rim section suitably securedby" means of plns to aplanetary gear carry- 31 is provided with one or more circular openings 32 for purposes to be pr sently explained. V f r V 1 I i r v To the upper end of the steering shaft 10 is fastened by a 'key 33 a rotatable arm or disk 34 provided with an upper and movable internal gear 35 and said gear 35 and arm or disk 3% are soproportioned and arranged as tobe rotatably supported within and on a shoulder 36 of the arm or disk 31. In each of the one or more circular openings 32 of said arm 31 is rotatably disposed and carried a compound planetary gear 37, (see Fig. 4;), having a'n upper. pinion 38 in engagement with the internal gear 85 and a lower pinion 89 in mesh withthe internal gear 24:, and each of saidplanetary gear or gears 37; is preferably carried by a simple ball bearing-4O held-inrposition by a lower collar'dl,

' loosely-seated in the cup-shaped end at the round the outer circular section of the driving flange 28, and when said cap 42,.is screwed down, as shown in Fig. 1, all the parts comprising the moving or rotary ele ments of the inventionare properlyheld within the fixed housing or casing'25 and with .respectto each other to efiieientlycarry out fully the functions assigned to them, and all exterior grit and dust will 'be excluded from. the casing interioror stopped coming in contact with said rotary elements, and at the same time any lubricant within said casing will be uniformly dis tributed to all rotary and rubbing parts and prevented fromescaping tothe exterior. While I have shown and-preferto employ three --planetary gears 37, this number may be decreased or increased, and-the construction as illustrated enables the power to be uniformly distributed at different radial points, thereby avoiding all side thrust or tendency to cramp or chock theg'ears, and enables many teeth to take up the load at one time instead of one or two.

Assuming the parts assemblethas shown is as follows hen the hand or steering wheel v7 is turned in either direction in the act of steering the self-propelled vehicle, the rotation of the attached stub-shaft 15 istransmitted to and rotates the driving flange 28 with its connected pinion carrying arm -or -disk 31, said disk or arm 31 carrying with it the .rotatably supported 7, compound planetary gears 3'7. The planetary. gears 37 having their lower ends bymeans of pinions 39 in 'mesh with'the lowerfixed nternal gear 241-,

will be forced to not only IGV0lV8' 'i1 l'Olll1l the axis of thersteerlng shaft 10 but also rotate on their own ares which rotary motionis transmittedto the up'per'pinion Pinion 38 being in engagement with the up per and movable internal gear 35transm ts its motion wand rotates the upper rotata-' in Fig. 1,;theoperation of the invention veyed to and properly guide the front steer.

ing wheels .to qwhich it. is connected,

clearly understood and needs no further explanation. g Owing to the gear ratios or difference between the diameters of the internal gears 24' aiid 35 and that of the intermediate. planetarygears' or pinions 38 and 39, and'the' structure, arrangement and manner of interposing the driving flange 28 withv ltS. connected arm or 'disk31, with respect to said shafts 10.- and 15, "internal gears 2-l-a'nd 25 and pinions 38 and 39 and attachedpa rts,

much less power is required to turn the hand wheel 17 toisteer the vehicle, and at the same gQ2\.l" 24:, thirty-four teeth on the internal gear 35-, nine teeth on pinion3S and eleven teeth. on pinion 39,-this relation can be easily and cheaply changed and without departing from p the --essentia;l; features of the present invention in providing a steering mechamsm whichcan be operated with little power-and atthe same time automatically iso locks itself in any of its adjusted positions.- against a counteracting force exerted upon-- the steering wheelscaused by an Obstruction or other unforeseenimpediment in the road bed preventing the direct and smooth running of said wheels.

It will also be understood while I have shown my irreversible steering mechanism at the top of the steering post it may be interposed in any suitable position between the hand steering wheel and rods or links connected with the front wheels and yet be ableto'fully carry out all the functions and operate in the same manner and efficiency, as herein disclosed. r

. From the foregoing disclosure of the construction and arrangement of the parts and their 006 eration, it will be seen that all the. objects, unctions and advantages recited in the statement of invention have been fully,

cheaply and efficiently carried out and accomplished with the simplest possible mechanism which can be quickly installed on any of the existing forms of automobilesor devices herein referred WVhat I claim is I 1. An irreversible steering gear mechanism comprising a stationary member, a stationary internal'gear carried by said member, a rotatable shaft supported by and eX- tending through said stationary member and adapted to be attached to a steering gear, a

rotatable internal gear attached to said ro-' tatable shaft, a rotary wheel on said stationary member, a rotatable driving flange connected to said rotary wheel, two integrally connected planetary pinions rotatably supported on said driving flange and revolving around said rotatable shaft, one of which pinions is in mesh with the stationary internal gear and the other in mesh with the rotatable internal gear, whereby said rotatable shaft is capable of rotation within said driving flange by means of said wheel.

An irreversible steering mechanism comprising a stationary steering post, a stationary internal gear attached to said post, a rotatable steering shaft carried by said post and extending through said steering post and adapted to be attached toa steering gean'a rotatable internal gear attached to said steeringshaft, a rotary hand wheel on said post, a rotatable driving flange actuated by said hand wheel, two connected planetary pinions rotatably supported on,

. said driving flange and revolving around said rotatable shaft, one of which pinions is 1n mesh with the stationary mternal gear I and-the other in mesh with the rotatable internal gear. whereby said steering shaft is capable of rotary adjustment within said driving flange by'means of said. hand wheel.

An irreversible steering mechanism comprising a stationary tubularsteeringpost formed with an enlargement at its upper end, a rotatable steering shaft withm said post and adapted to be connected to a steeringgear, a hand wheel mounted uponthe upper end of said enlargement and free to turn thereonand means within saidenlarge- .ment interposed between said wheel and the upper end of and surrounding'said rotatable steering shaft for rotating the shaft and transmitting from the wheelto the shaft a different rate ofrota'ry speed than thatr'of thewheel, i l. An .-irreversible steering mechanism comprising a stationary tubular steering post, a stationary internal gear-carriedby I saidpost, a rotatable steering shaft within. and extending through said post and ada'pted tobe attached to a steering gear, a rotatable internal gear attached to said rotatable-steering shaft, a hand wheel-rotatable on said post, an independent stub shaft connected to saidhand wheel and being in axial aiinement with and rotatably. supported by the adjacent endof said steering shaft, a rotatable driving flange connected to said stub shaft, two connected planetary pinions a rotatably supported'on said, driving flange and revolving around said rotatable steermg shaft, one of which pinions 1s 1n mesh with the stationaryinternal gear and the other in mesh with the rotatable internal gear, whereby said steering shaft is capable of rotary ad ustment within said drlvlng flange by means of sald hand wheel.

5. An irreversible steering 'mechanism comprising a stationary tubular steering post formed with an enlargement at its upper-end, a rotatable steerlng shaft within said post and adapted to be connected to a steering gear, a hand-wheel mounted upon the upper end of saidenlargementiand free to turn thereon and rotary meansv within said enlargement interposed between said wheel and the upper end. of and surround ing said rotatable steering shaft for rotating the shaft and transmitting from the'wheel to the shaft a different rate of rotary-speed hand wheel rotatable on said post, a rotatable driving flange connected to said'hand wheel and surrounding and rotating about said steering shaft, two connected planetary plnlons rotatably supported on saiddrlving flange, one ofwhich pinions is in mesh with the stationary internal gear and the other in mesh with the rotatable internal gear-and revolving around said rotatable steering shaft, whereby saidsteering shaft is capitble of rotary adjustment by means of said hand Wheel.

/ 7.- An irreversible steering mechanism 5*con1prising a stationary tubular steering post, a stationary internal gear carried by said post,'arotary steering shaft Within said post and adapted to be connected to a steer- "ing gear, a rotatable internal gear attached 10 to said steering shaft, -a hand wheel on said post, a stub shaft connected to. said hand wheel, a rotatable driving flange conneeted to said stub shaft and surrounding said rovtary steering shaft, two-connected planetary pinions rotatably supported on said driving rotary adjustment by means of said'hand Wheel. 7

In testimony whereof, I affixmy signature. v

CARL H. B-LousTRoM.

15 flange and revolving around said steering 

